|
Quote:
|
It's also worth noting that no one has touched on my initial point, that being that there is huge statistical and observational evidence to back up the idea of consistent racial differences.
Easy ones first. Tell me when was the last time a white man was 100 metre world champion?
In the context of sport racial difference is undeniable. When was the last black man crowned world chess champion?
|
Bateman,
If you are seriously interested in an answer to the questions, consider that race (in the sense of "white men", "black Africans", "Latinos") is not determined by genes. It is common to assume that all Italians have dark hair, which is why there has never been a fair-headed Italian prime minister. But, while it is unlikely, it is
as possible as a dark-haired prime minister of Norway:
The same principle applies to top class sprinters and distance runners. (Champions in both sports tend to come from Africa, although from different parts - east Africa and west Africa, respectively.) Superiority may come from genetic variations that occur in those populations (but no more distinguish someone who comes from Jamaica or Kenya than that a blue-eyed politician must come from England or that a brown-eyed politician cannot).
You cannot define a race (pun unintended) by seeing which people are the fastest sprinters and which, the fastest distance runners. These are perhaps one out of a million, and not characteristic of the average population from which they come.
As far as chess-playing goes, do citizens of the former USSR have a chess-excelling gene-set?
Bobby Fischer is perhaps America's best known former world chess champion. His parents married in Moscow in 1933 although neither was Russian, or even Slavic. Clearly, chess mastery is not genetic. It is something that the Soviet Union put in the water supply.
Historically, chess has not been big as a sport in Africa. However according to
a chess blog post last Tuesday:
After football, it's chess in Africa
Tenth World Chess Champion Boris Spassky
Hello Everyone!
The Football World Cup is over but not the talk about Africa. So this news item caught our attention. Former World Chess Champion Grandmaster Boris Spassky will be visiting Nigeria next year for Professor Wole Soyinka’s inaugural International Masters Chess Tournament.
Since Africa has been the flavor of the season it's not too early really to carry the news. The tournament, scheduled to be held from 10-17 July, 2011, is in honour of the literary icon and Noble Laureate Wole Soyinka. Prof. Soyinka celebrates his 77th birthday on July 13, 2011.
So, go Waka, Waka ... This time for chess in Africa!
Maybe people who can run fast can also become good at chess if they put their minds to it.
Linear Mode
